New Jobless Claims Up Unexpectedly to 482K

(AP)  The number of newly-laid off workers seeking jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, as the economy recovers at a slow and uneven pace.

Layoffs have slowed and the economy began to grow in last year's third quarter, but companies are reluctant to hire new workers. The unemployment rate is 10 percent and many economists expect it to increase in the coming months.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 482,000. Wall Street economists expected a small drop, according to Thomson Reuters.

The four-week average, which smooths fluctuations, rose for the first time since August, to 448,250.

The weekly claims figure is volatile and it can take time for trends to emerge. A Labor Department analyst said that much of the increase last week was due to administrative backlogs leftover from the winter holidays in the state agencies that process the claims.

Claims have dropped steadily since last fall, as companies cut fewer jobs. That has caused some economists to hope that hiring may increase soon. Initial claims have dropped by 50,000, or almost 10 percent, since late October.

Still, the economy is not consistently generating net increases in jobs. The Labor Department said earlier this month that employers cut 85,000 jobs in December, after adding only 4,000 in November. November's increase was the first in nearly two years.

Many economists say the four week average of claims will need to fall to below 425,000 to signal that the economy is close to generating net job gains.

Meanwhile, the number of people continuing to claim regular benefits dropped slightly to just under 4.6 million. The continuing claims data lags initial claims by a week.

But the so-called continuing claims do not include millions of people who have used up the regular 26 weeks of benefits customarily provided by states and are now receiving extended benefits for up to 73 additional weeks, paid for by the federal government.

More than 5.9 million are receiving extended benefits in the week ending Jan. 2, the latest data available, an increase of more than 600,000 from the previous week. The data for emergency benefits lags initial claims by two weeks.

The increasing number of people claiming extended unemployment insurance indicates that even as layoffs are declining, hiring hasn't picked up. That leaves people out of work for longer and longer periods of time.

Among the states, California saw the largest increase in claims, with 16,160. Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania and Georgia saw the next largest increases. The state data lags the initial claims data by a week.

Oregon saw the biggest drop in claims, of 5,784, followed by Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Massachusetts.

[sunday42]

I thought the jobs summit would take care of the unemployment problem. Or was it just another photo op?

[rocketjl]

Guess who sent all the jobs overseas and who is keeping them there?????

No-brainer Elmoe.

[sjc_1]

We will probably continue to see numbers above 400,000 for months to come. Demand has to come back, it is difficult if not impossible to MAKE it come back. Cash for Clunkers gets old cars off the road. $8000 for home buyers helps sell some of the inventory, but these can not go on forever. Demand has to come back or we will not see hiring, it is as simple as that.

[jgg000101]

seriously, this "unexpected" word is appearing with great regularity.
why are we being provided figures and indicators that are constantly being misinterpreted?

[ajvw]

actually it will be unexpected when unexpected doesn't appear...to answer your question just think cBS

[pjk12354]

In the 1990's, the Clinton Administration put the money into the hands of the average American to stop a recession......IT WORKED!

Now we put the money into the hands of the very people who squandered or embezzled from the banks or executives who paid themselves grossly unfair bonuses......and the average American is still suffering because of it by being unemployed. No business is too big to fail.........our government, both Republicans & Democrats, need to come clean & quit deceiving the people who elected them.........

........We are no longer a democracy........we are now a special interest auction with politicians available to any lobbiest for the right price.........

[RobAla]

Actually we are putting the money in the hands of irresponsible and incompetent politicians in Washington. Some in the Senate propose adding another $1.9 trillion to the nation's debt! These people are out of control! If they can run our government effectively, let's find some people who can.

[davidbthelen]

You have seen the videos of the Wright Brothers win a contest for being the first to fly in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. You have seen the many failed inventions before that time. We have been known as the people of ?American ingenuity.? As they say in business, out of 200 ideas, 2 may be doable. There is the benefit of the Internet of sharing ideas that may or may not work. If an idea is not totally a winner, people may build upon a concept or change it to something that will work. Another area where ideas could be shared and build upon is talk radio. People could vote on ideas by tweeting.
Perhaps the winning idea could win private funding and business mentors (i.e. SBA support) to get these ideas off the ground. The reason for jobs lost since the Bush?s administration is due to good jobs leaving this country. This also caused this senate race upset in Massachusetts. People are hurting due to jobs lost. The reason is as follow.
Do you want to buy a major appliance for $400, for example, made by foreign labor? Or do you want to buy that same appliance for $2000 made by American labor. Therefore, we need to put our creative minds together and invent new jobs.
We have been able to learn to fly with contests. Let us all begin new contests to create new jobs in America as mentioned above. This is my suggestion for what the Obama?s administration should do from now on.

[porcine_aviator]

The Obama administration could care less what you think, regardless of the fact that it is spot on.

Our government and business leaders are too interested in protecting the status quo and special interests to be bothered with entrepreneurism and meaningful job creation.

The whole idea of anything being "too big to fail" is ludicrous, but nothing our "leaders" do these days make any sense.

Ironically, things will finally get so bad that even the Holy Cows will fall. And when that happens, then we as a nation can finally start moving forward. This Nanny State protection of the old, the feeble, the inefficient, and the stupid is what has killed our economy.